


Incompatible

by KyloReam



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: A Lifetime of Sadness, A Sad Handjob, An Even Sadder Blowjob, Angst, Blow Jobs, Break Up, Emotional Constipation, Evil Space Boyfriends, Evil Space Exes, Feelings, Hand Jobs, Home Video of Kylo Ren Sobbing Into a Lean Cuisine, Hurt No Comfort, Hux is Not Nice, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Kissing, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Lovers To Enemies, M/M, Mind Manipulation, Spooning, Suffering, Tears, Unhappy Ending, anti-fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-28 22:07:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6347467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyloReam/pseuds/KyloReam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As he lay alone in bed, damp covers tangled around his legs and the general’s cologne hanging in the air, Kylo Ren tried to remember the last time he’d thought of Hux as his partner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Incompatible

**Author's Note:**

> All I wanted was a simple fanfic where Kylo and Hux don’t love each other, aren't soulmates, aren’t fluffy, aren’t good kinky or even non-kinky fuck buddies, break up, still have to work as co-commanders under the First Order, and live unhappily ever after.
> 
> Fic title/inspiration comes from [“Incompatible”](https://youtu.be/Ewfst6JhEss) by Baths.

Kylo Ren woke with his chest pressed against General Hux’s back. His left arm, which was wedged underneath the general, had fallen asleep. Using his other arm for leverage, he rolled onto his back and pulled his arm out swiftly from beneath Hux. He cradled it in his right hand, massaging out his overactive nerves. Kylo thought back to a distant time when he’d gently ease his arm out from under Hux after the general fell asleep on it, maybe even manipulating the mattress to bend ever so slightly beneath his arm so Hux remained asleep. In the early days, he wouldn’t event try to move his arm, conceding that a tingling arm was a fair price to pay to be this close to his general.

He stared up at the ceiling and tried to figure out the hour without checking his bedside chrono. Surely it had to be around the end of the first four-hour cycle, which meant Hux would soon be waking up. He’d use the refresher, review the day’s agenda on his data pad, and re-dress in a freshly pressed uniform. Hux would then bend over to where Kylo slept and would rub his shoulder to rouse him half-awake muttering something about seeing him later on the bridge and wondering why Kylo couldn’t wake up an hour or two earlier like a civilized person. When he did wake up two hours later, it would be to empty sheets and the smell of Hux’s cologne.

He felt Hux turn toward him before he heard the bed creak.

“You’re awake,” said Hux sleepily.

“You fell asleep on my arm.”

“Mmh. Have to restrain you somehow.” Hux shifted toward him, carelessly tossing an arm over Kylo’s shoulder. “It’s nearly 0400.”

“Not going to stay in bed until then?”

“No, but I _was_ wondering…” Hux pressed himself closer to Kylo, and he was suddenly, acutely aware of the general’s erection. With his eyes focused on Hux’s, he drew three fingers into his mouth, slicking them with spit. He wrapped his hand around the other man’s swollen cock, fingers ghosting over its head, imagining it as his own. In the past, he’d entered Hux’s mind during handjobs, getting off to the sensation of the general’s arousal building and climaxing. Simply thinking about Hux’s cock as his own seemed to get Kylo half-hard.

Hux came, spilling onto both of their stomachs, and swiftly slid a hand toward Kylo’s cock. He let the general take it, rolling his hips without really thinking much about the situation. When he finally came, he buried his face in Hux’s shoulder, whimpering. He could feel wetness and knew he'd probably ended up on the top sheets. Hux pulled away from him, wiping his hand on Kylo’s chest.

“Stay a little longer?”

Hux looked at him exasperatedly. “You know I need to be on the command bridge at 0545.”

“What time is it now? 0401?”

Hux sighed as he rose from the bed. “Let me clean up first.” He passed though the threshold in Kylo’s bedroom, and he could hear him distantly in the refresher. 

“I could have summoned some washcloths, you know,” Kylo called.

“You could have, but would you have remembered to moisten them?” Hux was back at the threshold, and lobbed a wet cloth in Kylo’s direction. He caught it one-handedly, ducking under the covers to clean himself. “Well, time to get ready,” said Hux.

“Am I that unbearable to be around?”

Hux glanced over to Kylo with an unreadable expression. “What if I want an early start to my day?” He turned back toward the refresher, presumably to wash up and shave. Kylo drifted off to the sound of the shower and the ambient noise onboard the Finalizer. When he opened his eyes, it was after 0500 and Hux had left the room.

As he lay alone in bed, damp covers tangled around his legs and the general’s cologne hanging in the air, Kylo tried to remember the last time he’d thought of Hux as his partner.

—

Romantic relationships, Kylo learned early in life, were to be avoided. This was modeled first by his parents, who bickered and verbally sparred as often as they ate and slept. Learning that the Jedi took vows of chastity, though a minor detail, had strengthened his desire as a child to train with Luke Skywalker ( _don’t think of him as your uncle_ , Kylo thought as he stood in the shower, working his hands through his hair). Neither the Sith nor the Knights of Ren were forbidden from sex, as per embracing passion, but this mattered little to him. He’d been drawn to the dark through its promises of a greater command of the Force, of diving deeper into his abilities. He was motivated to surpass the limits of his body and mind, to become something close to a god. Gods didn’t need relationships.

Kylo stepped out of the shower, pulling his damp hair away from his face, and examined himself in the ‘fresher’s mirror. Though he strived to be a god, and had trained until he was powerfully built, he was still disappointingly mortal without his helmet. He hated the amount of emotion his face betrayed, the way his mother’s too large eyes and his father’s coarse features stared back at him. He’d been told his mouth was desirable, useful (or maybe it was _usable_ ). Hux had been the one to tell him this.

Kylo tied a cloth around his waist and made his way out of the ‘fresher. He was far too mortal.

The affair started about a year after he was posted on the Finalizer. He still felt like a neophyte to the First Order and the Supreme Leader, though he’d assisted and led countless missions as a Knight of Ren. When he wasn’t on a mission, he trained constantly, meditating on the mysteries of the Force, pushing himself against battle droids in the officers’ armory until he vomited, practicing his kata until the ship switched from its sixth to first cycle. Once, while coming out of an early-cycle training, he encountered Colonel Hux patrolling the halls. Stormtroopers were on night guard, he’d pointed out, not senior officers.

“I like to walk around the Finalizer in the early hours,” replied the colonel. “Less people about. I’m untethered by their pettiness.”

They’d spent some time gazing out of a viewport near the armory and making small talk (difficult for Kylo, who’d grown out of practice during his apprenticeship) before parting. It was their first interaction outside of a staff meeting or a mission assignment. It was the pivotal moment their relationship began.

Hux had to have known he was his first, thought Kylo as he pulled on his leggings. It was obvious from their first feverish kisses, nearly six months after they met outside the armory. Being touch-starved had made him too eager, and he forced himself onto Hux as though they were the last two people in the universe. Kylo could hold his own through giving sloppy hand jobs, but couldn’t feign the experience of sucking dick, had come with Hux’s fingers still probing inside of him the first time they tried to have sex. 

He choked down Hux’s bitter come and learned to temper his arousals and orgasms, as they fucked in ‘freshers and staff rooms and, eventually, in each others’ quarters. He stayed up late exploring Hux’s conscious and unconscious desires and needs. He memorized inane facts about the colonel, the color of his eyes, the strategies he used while playing Dejarik, the news stories he read on his data pad during off-hours. Kylo didn’t let Hux get underneath his skin so much as he cut himself open and forcibly pulled him into his chest cavity.

His reasoning was bizarre, shamanic even, but Kylo had hoped having sex with Hux would bring him closer to being like Hux. In the colonel, he saw good judgement and reasoning, his unflinching devotion to the First Order and to the Supreme Leader. He would finally be able to turn a page on the emotional turmoil he’d known his entire life, he’d finally be fully part of the Dark Side. _Make me yours_ , he’d say as Hux thrust in.

“You are mine,” Hux replied, his come pooling inside Kylo.

For a time it had worked, he thought, throwing on his tunic. Both were promoted and named co-commanders of the First Order, though their duties were divided between a comprehensive knowledge of military strategy and the unknown psychic network of the Force, between things seen and unseen. Their intimacy, the fact that Kylo could now read Hux as easily as a relative, should have aided them, making them the unified heart and brain of the First Order.

“Stay out of my mind, Ren,” Hux had said one evening. Their legs were laced together as they lay on the general’s bed, Kylo on top of Hux, peppering him with kisses.

“How else can I know what’s on it?”

“You could start by asking, like a civilized person.” Hux had bucked his hips, maneuvering himself out from underneath Kylo.

“It was never an issue.”

“Yes, well it’s an issue now.” 

Kylo racked his brain, thinking of what could’ve set off this new arrangement. The ongoing construction of Starkiller Base, perhaps, or a lingering fear in Snoke or Kylo overpowering Hux with their Force mastery. Perhaps it was as simple as the general harboring memories like those in Kylo's own past, floating like ice under water, painful and fatal when bumped against.

He made an effort to respect Hux’s wishes, but it was hard to wean off reading him. He still felt his emotions, especially during close contact. He liked Hux’s mind: it had a very regular, analytic style of thinking that contrasted with his internal disorder. On nights when Kylo was awake into the early cycles he’d skim the edges of the other man’s consciousness, tuning in to calming static the way one might listen to a far-off transmission. Eventually, after months had passed, the signal petered out. He wondered if the general had asked Snoke to teach him how to avoid Force probing. He wondered if Hux had always known how to do this but had only just started to put up his defenses. 

There were aspects of Hux’s personality, when divorced from the emotional closeness they once had, that grew to irritate and disgust Kylo. Eventually Hux’s chrono-like mind lost its charm, became repetitive and predictable in its readability. Kylo sensed Hux’s distrust in the very nature of his Force-based abilities, and it frightened him. _You’re unworthy,_ he thought, _you’re inadequate for him, you’re ugly._ These same fears had plagued him since childhood, but now he couldn’t blame them on Force-induced voices in his head. He found himself snapping at officers during meetings, annihilating the battle droids which used to challenge him, putting chokeholds on Stormtroopers who so much as looked at him. Later, he’d find himself on his hands and knees weeping with Hux’s cock in his mouth, sobbing out apologies as Hux fucked him. He had a sense everything he was doing was wrong.

Eventually, it had dissolved from frustration to fear to apathy.

Now fully dressed, Kylo reached for his helmet, unceremoniously placing it on his head and locking it in place. He blinked, eyes adjusting to the tinted transparasteel, and coughed to confirm his vocabulator was working. He pulled his cowl over his helmet, feeling armored, close to a god.

He left his quarters at 0545, hours before he usually awoke, and headed toward the command bridge.

—

Kylo didn’t need to be at the command bridge. As a free agent working within the First Order, he had no station assignment; the very nature of his position - retrieving reconnaissance on Skywalker, eliminating people who had been identified as Force-sensitive, interrogating leads - gave him the freedom to create his own schedule. With the exception of senior officers meetings or public events, he rarely appeared together with other First Order personnel. It was understandable, then, for the officers on the deck to exchange worried glances as he entered the command center, for the Stormtroopers to stand a little straighter and stiffer.

“How can I help you, Lord Ren?”

He turned, spotting Lieutenant Mitaka at his console, looking especially bright-eyed for this early hour. While Kylo found him too eager, he was competent, uncomplicated, an efficient cog in the First Order’s machine. 

“Where is the General?”

Mitaka frowned. “I have no idea, Ren.”

Kylo sighed. This conversation was rapidly becoming tedious. “The Finalizer’s deep holonet access code. I need to access data from the Imperial archives. Hux has the code.” He’d begun reassembling a map of the galaxy that included ancient Jedi temples in the hope of tracking down Skywalker. Apparently the only people who had access to the data were General Hux and a select few First Order scholars, as he’d learned yesterday.

Mitaka turned to his console. “I’ll send over a request now; you should receive the access code no later than 1000. In the future, feel free to comm in a request.” 

“Good,” Kylo heard himself say. He headed off to his meditation chamber, frustrated that he hadn’t gone straight to Hux’s office, and hoping to relieve some tension while he waited for access.

The meditation chamber had been one of Snoke’s specifications when the Finalizer was designed. It was a spartan space, modeled after the spaces which housed Force users on the ships of centuries past. Here, Kylo was supposed to practice battle meditation to aid the First Order, but as often happened, his thoughts drifted to more personal conflicts.

Hux was avoiding him, was being deliberately opaque. The exact reason eluded Kylo, but he was certain it had to do with something inherent to him. He reflected on the last week: he hadn’t been particularly physically destructive, discounting yesterday’s incident of him severely denting his computer console when he realized he didn’t have access to the Imperial archives. He analyzed past conversations, trying to note if he’d been unfairly peevish to Hux. Had he gloated too much when he bested the general while they were grappling in the armory? Had he said something unflattering about Grand Moff Tarkin's legacy? 

Kylo knew that if he chose to, he  _could_ make Hux spend more time with him. With his current abilities, he could plant a few suggestions in Hux's mind -  _you need me in your life. You care for me. You want me_.  _Forget what I said about Tarkin._

He sighed. This was assuming Hux would ever let his guard down, and that he would be receptive to the suggestions. He’d have as much success killing Luke Skywalker by strangling him through the Force. 

As it was, Kylo was no longer sure how he felt about Hux. He thought about their hands underneath the sheets this morning, jerking each other off on instinct. There hadn’t been any feelings behind it. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but he still struggled to remember a time they’d had meaningful sex. When had they last lingered in bed, shrugging off excuses to clean up or get back to work? When had Hux said something kind to Kylo? Had it been weeks? Months? Could this be resurrected, even without Force-induced interventions?

He stayed in the meditation chamber until his comm beeped, alerting him that he had been granted access to the deep holonet’s access code. By that time, he had formulated a plan for confronting Hux.

—

“Must you be so impulsive,” Hux said. There was irritability in his voice, but he still leaned in to Kylo’s kiss, worrying his bottom lip. It was midway through the fifth cycle, and Hux had just returned from dinner to find Kylo in his entry room, helmet unclasped.

“Please,” said Kylo, reaching for Hux’s shoulders and letting the helmet clatter to the ground. He furrowed his brow, trying to read what was just underneath the surface of Hux’s mind, he felt so close to knowing what he was _really_ feeling -

Hux broke away. “Bed. Now.” Kylo pressed closer, his heart pounding. He wondered if Hux could feel it.

“What’s gotten into you,” murmured Hux as he sat down on the bed. “What’s the occasion?” 

Kylo straddled Hux, clumsily trying to keep kissing. “I think,” he said, “I’m worth more than an early morning hand job.” He hoped he’d sounded teasing rather than accusatory. 

Hux smirked and raised an eyebrow. “So what do you propose? A late night hand job?”

“More than that,” he replied, unfastening his cloak and shrugging it behind him onto the floor. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against Hux’s. “Please.” He wasn’t sure who he was asking permission. Beneath him, he could feel that Hux was hard. Above them, the lights in Hux's room flickered.

“Fuck, Ren,” Hux exhaled, leaning back onto the bed, unbuckling his pants and pulling them down swiftly. His erection was heavy against his stomach. Kylo edged closer to him, rubbing his head gently against the inside of Hux’s thighs, shrugging his hair back with his shoulders. He inhaled deeply to calm himself, taking in Hux’s scent. 

“Relax,” he whispered, looking up into Hux’s eyes, saying it with as much suggestion as he dared. “I want you to let go.” His head was swimming and his chest ached.

He took Hux’s cock into his mouth.

He could feel Hux’s arousal around him, even beyond his physical cock. It emanated around them, raw and base. Hux rutted against Kylo’s mouth, pushing himself in further, and he ran his tongue down the underside of his cock, pushing back, tasting precome. There was pleasure, there was Hux’s insistent need to fuck. Kylo felt his own erection start to stir, his whole _body_ was a tangle of arousal and anxiety - 

And there, underneath Hux’s arousal, was another emotion, one which made his eyes widen with recognition. Involuntarily, Kylo swallowed hard, and above him he heard Hux groan. He inhaled sharply through his nose and drew himself back, scraping his incisors against the underside of the man’s erection and letting go. Hux yelped and stared at him, disbelieving. 

“What the vape has gotten into you?”

Kylo was breathing harder than he thought he would, the ache in his chest unbearable. “You know,” he said. His eyes darted between the general’s face and the bed. “I felt it.”

“I told you to stay out of my mind -”

“I can’t help it! I can’t control it!” 

“Ren - _Kylo -_ get a hold of yourself.”

“You don’t care about me! Admit it!” He kept his head down, angry tears starting at the edge of his eyes. “I felt your ambivalence! You don’t care about me except as something you can _fuck_ whenever you want!” Kylo struggled to his feet, tears falling heavily from his face. The lights started to flicker again.

“We were never meant to be lovers, Kylo!”

“I loved you!” roared Kylo, shaking his arms and stamping his feet. The overhead panels suddenly grew bright and shorted. The silence that followed was deafening.

“I loved you,” Kylo said again, wiping his nose on the back of his hand. “You made me feel balanced. I thought…I thought you were perfect. Godly, maybe. But you don’t, you don’t care.” He balled his hands into fists. “Tell me how you feel!”

Hux rose from the bed and sighed. “You’re a child, Kylo. Always needy, always seeking attention, always overreacting. I gave you all my energy, and you wasted it.” 

“I gave as much as I took!”

“ _Listen_. What have you given me? A co-commander who can barely command himself?”

“You were my first!” Kylo wished he’d added _and my only._

“And you think that means I owe you something? I don’t owe you anything!” shouted Hux. He exhaled deeply. "I can’t be bothered to care about you any more.”

Hux’s words hung heavily in the air as they stared at each other. Overhead, the auxiliary lights turned on, bathing Hux's room in dull yellow light.

“I…I stopped caring about you. I don’t know when,” his breath hitched. “Maybe months ago.” The words fell out of Kylo’s mouth before he was aware he’d said them.

“So you admit it - ”

“I admit nothing. Only apathy. I admit that.”

Hux tucked himself into his briefs, his erection now gone, and pulled on his pants. “Fine. You win this time, Kylo.”

“What?”

“You don’t feel anything for me, I don’t feel anything for you. I can’t even get off from hearing you blubber around my dick.”

“So - ”

“This - whatever it is - it’s over.” Hux scooped Kylo’s cloak from the floor and placed them in his hands. “Leave. If I find out you caused bodily harm or so much as threatened one of my officers or any personnel tonight, I will not hesitate to report you immediately to Leader Snoke and to denounce you to the senior officers onboard.”

Kylo’s lip trembled, tears continuing to stream silently down his face.

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

Turning his back on Hux, he quickly re-dressed. “Yes,” he said quietly. Without taking a second look, he left Hux’s bedroom, picking up his helmet in the entry room and locking it before dejectedly punching in the door panel code as he exited. He kept the audio output silenced on his helmet, horrified that someone might hear his choked sobs.

Kylo wrenched off his helmet as soon as he was in his quarters. He felt as though he was drowning underneath it in his own mucus and tears. His clothes followed next, falling carelessly to the floor as he walked to his bed, then recoiled from it, remembering Hux’s scent across the sheets. Kylo had a desperate need to get out of his body. He didn’t trust himself to hold back from entering Hux’s consciousness if he tried to meditate, and knew it was the last thing he should do.

He stormed into the refresher, slamming the door panel closed when it didn’t shut quickly enough, and entered the shower. He stood under the spray until long after he’d exhausted his weekly ration of heated water, until he couldn’t force tears out of his eyes or come up with coherent thoughts. He avoided looking in the mirror after shutting off the water and toweling himself and kept his eyes cast down as he stripped his bed and wrapped himself in blankets.

Loneliness and lovelessness had been dominant emotions in Kylo’s life, but at this moment he felt like all previous experiences paled before this one. He could blame his childhood abandonment on Leia Organa and Han Solo, his distrust of Luke Skywalker and of all Jedi on Snoke. He had no one but himself to blame for his failure with Hux. He threw his face into a pillow and howled, feeling a headache edging in and welcoming the pain. He wished to wake up and find all of this had been one long dream.

When Kylo woke up, he was still on the Finalizer and there was still blood on his hands, an ache in his head, and emptiness in his chest. His mother’s eyes still stared back at him through his mirror, only now they were red and swollen. He had never been more grateful for his clothing as a shell he could hide inside, protecting him as he interfaced with others as little as possible.

He still had to speak with the Supreme Leader today. Hux would be there, as usual. The General, he corrected himself. He had a meeting with the general, and it was unavoidable, and would continue to be unavoidable. He realized there was no need for Snoke to pick up on his emotional turmoil and prod it as he used to: Kylo was more than adequate on his own.

He supposed he’d suffered greater failures. 

— 

Love was a weakness, something beholden to the light, Kylo told himself.  And he, being as immersed in the dark as he was, was unworthy to give or receive love. Any love he’d ever received in his life had been purely conditional. The general didn’t love him. His parents didn’t love him. The Supreme Leader did not love him. Kylo barely loved himself.

He supposed it was better this way, that the absence of love would bring him closer to the all-encompassing hatred he needed to be fully dark. If it hadn’t been for foolish paternal love, Darth Vader would still be alive. Kylo had been tempted, he’d felt that call, had yielded to it. Unlike Vader, he had survived; six months had passed since - _no, don’t think about the number of months, that’s a mark of weakness,_  he scolded himself. He would not be seduced again. He could not _afford_ to be seduced again. He meditated on this as he prepared to meet with the general.

The last cycles had brought disaster to the First Order. He’d intercepted one of the Resistance’s pilots who held the final fragment of the map to Luke Skywalker, only to have it slip through his fingers. Worse, the pilot’s escape had been assisted by one of the First Order’s own. The Force had shifted in ways he hadn’t been able to anticipate, and Kylo was furious with himself for not killing FN-2189 when he felt his confident falter on Jakku. 

The General didn’t need to know about Kylo’s inner failures. He doubted the man would care if he mentioned them. 

“How capable are your soldiers, General?”

“I won’t have you questioning my methods,” General Hux said defensively. _As if he’d never made a single mistake in his life. As if he knew anything about loyalty_ , thought Kylo. He could play this game.

“They’re obviously skilled at committing high treason. Perhaps Leader Snoke should consider using a clone army.” His comments hit their target.

“My men are exceptionally trained, programmed from birth,” snapped the general. _On what? Battle simulations championed by your father?_ Kylo found himself wondering how foolhardy he’d been to think a man with no practical war experience could have made him a better person.

“Then they should have no problem retrieving the droid. Unharmed.”

General Hux turned to Kylo, narrowing his eyes. It was the first time, he realized, that the general had really looked at Kylo since they - no, since _he_ forced him to admit he didn’t care for him.

“Careful, Ren, that you do not let your personal interests interfere with orders from Supreme Leader Snoke.”

He knew nothing. He had no idea how significant it was to complete this map, to find Luke Skywalker, to annihilate anything connected to the Jedi. All he cared about was his title, one Kylo doubted he fully deserved.

“I want that map,” Kylo snarled. "For your sake, I suggest you get it."

As he headed off, he felt anger and disgust rolling off the general in hot, malicious waves. He didn't need to skim his thoughts to know General Hux hated him. 

And Kylo hated General Hux.

**Author's Note:**

> I promise, even after writing the Great Kylux Breakup Fic™, I still believe these two emotionally constipated losers are perfect for each other.
> 
> For a good time, hit me up on tumblr @ [kyloream](http://kyloream.tumblr.com/) and [vegetadentata](http://vegetadentata.tumblr.com/).


End file.
